Baltic Dry Index rose 1.85% to 2,593 points.

Kremlin hopes a meeting between Witkov and President Putin can be arranged in Russia in the near term.

US housing starts slipped in September to a four-month low as demand cooled, with starts down 5.2% YoY to an annualized 1.22 mln, below economists' expectations. Single-family starts fell 4.6% to a one-year low, while multifamily starts dropped nearly 7%. Single-family building permits, a forward indicator of construction activity, fell to their lowest level since early 2023. Affordability pressures and elevated mortgage rates are weighing on the market, and builder confidence has fallen to a 14-year low, suggesting developers may delay new projects until inventories improve.